


Grophet's Gambit - Tatooine

by DancingHare



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 14:44:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13883049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancingHare/pseuds/DancingHare
Summary: Kazta aids the Captain in finding a contact in an unexpected place.





	Grophet's Gambit - Tatooine

Major Kazta was accustomed to chaos, the ebb and flow of a hot battlefield. Beneath the disarray, one could observe patterns and tides, make predictions about what might happen in the next few seconds. Of course, there were always surprises, unexpected obstacles or outcomes, tech failures or gun jams, but that was part of what made it exciting — being able to adapt and create a new strategy on the fly. However, the past few days had been nothing like that. Before, she’d had her squad at her back, people she’d known for years and trusted implicitly. They could communicate with nothing more than a word or signal, read each others’ gestures and body language, knew each others’ strengths and weaknesses in any given situation. They were a well-oiled machine, and she was in the driver’s seat.

Not so with this crew. The Captain had a lot of contacts, and each of them seemed even more erratic than the last. She’d already seen more than she wanted to — smugglers, spice dealers, pirates — and the operation hadn’t even really get off the ground. But she couldn’t back out now, knowing what was at stake. Neither would her pride allow her to admit defeat without at least giving it a shot. It was going to be a hell of a rough ride though.

Going to the port with the Captain for ship parts, she’d had a taste of the old days again. Under siege by pirates and mercenaries, they would have to fight their way through. To her surprise, he was cool under fire, and responded well to her instructions. He might actually make a decent soldier one day, if they all survived this. Their contact was a mon cal, but he was nowhere to be found. Spooked by the fighting, or perhaps changing his mind about the deal, he’d taken one of the escape pods. The Captain extracted the coordinates from a remaining pod, sending them to Tattooine. It was not Kazta’s favorite place. The heat was unbearable despite her armor’s cooling system, and once the sand got in, it was nearly impossible to get rid of it. She’d found it for weeks after her last trip there, despite the ship droid’s best efforts.

As the sandy horizon drew into view, she couldn’t help but remember her first trip there, not long after she’d enlisted. She was eager to help — as well as to prove herself — no matter where they were assigned. The reality was a lot less glamorous, mostly they were keeping the enormous desert lizards out of the water farms, not to mention the endless battle to keep sand out of everything. But for the first time, she’d felt part of something larger, something more important. She might only be one person, but she was confident that united, they could make a difference.

In the Anchorhead cantina, the Captain was able to make scrambled contact with the mon cal, and he sent a signal out to the others for backup. They began to arrive shortly, some that Kazta recognized, and some that she didn’t. What were their motivations for being there? It was impossible to guess, but she doubted it was out of Republic loyalty. It was bad enough they had a spice dealer aboard, but he’d at least agreed not to move any while on the ship. If she knew smugglers, though, he’d surely find a loophole. Kazta was reminded of the saying about herding nexu cats as she followed the group through the dunes and canyons. She would have preferred to have a strategy, some sort of plan, but that wasn’t looking likely. They were joined by a chiss youth, which came as another surprise. Though they were usually allied with the Empire, this one was wandering the desert alone, and he approached them — which meant he probably didn’t have ill intentions. Unless, Kazta reasoned, he was a spy. Had the Empire been tipped off by someone at the port? Did they truly have eyes and ears in Coruscant, as she’d feared? If he was a spy, he was convincing — the kid took a blaster shot to his shoulder while they were trying to negotiate the mon cal’s escape, and his fear and surprise looked real. Despite his species, Kazta felt a twinge of sympathy for him, just a kid in over his head — like she’d been, not so long ago. She’d have to ask Kif to look him over, that is, if he hadn’t disappeared back into the desert.

Kazta retreated to her own ship — which unlike the Captain’s, did have a vac chamber, and a refresher she wouldn’t have to wait in line to use. She did her best to get all of the sand out, then cleaned and buffed her armor, ensuring there were no scuffs or compromised areas. She’d taken her rifle out to oil and clean when she heard her holo calling.

“Hello, love!” The faces were too close to the screen, and Kazta smiled back at them.

“Hi mom, hi dad. How are you?”

The connection wasn’t great, the colony where she’d grown up was remote and not well supplied. This was probably the same holo she’d bought for them with her first credits from enlisting. Yet they’d wanted to remain, and Kazta couldn’t really blame them. One day she’d go back to see them, when all of this was over. “Are you eating enough? You look skinny.”

She didn’t think she was, but she wasn’t about to argue with her mother and father either. “I’ll eat more,” she promised.

“Where are you?” asked her father, the hologram of his face peering around her ship.

“Tattooine. I’m working with some new people.”

Her mother frowned slightly. “You be careful. You know some people are dangerous.”

“I know, mom.”

“When are you going to come visit?” asked her father.

“And bring home someone?” added her mother.

“Soon,” Kazta said, though she didn’t know the answer to either of those. She wasn’t sure of the scope of this thing with the privateers, let alone how long her superiors would indulge her interest in it. And as for the other matter… she had a feeling that day was a long way off. She tried not to wonder too much about her last team, whether they were still alive and kicking, if they ever thought about where she was — no, it was foolish.

“Love you,” she said, waving as the connection closed.


End file.
